Boxer reports progress with GOP

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, is briefed by Richard Alley of Penn State University, during a boat trip on July 29th on Disko Bay, near Illulisat Greenland. PETER RAFLE, Environment and Public Works Committee

WASHINGTON - Sen. Barbara Boxer believes this past weekend's trip to Greenland helped her make progress with at least two Republican senators as she works toward getting a global warming bill on the Senate floor this year.

"I believe that every senator on the trip came away believing that human activity causes warming,'' Boxer, D-Calif., said at a news conference with some of the 10 lawmakers who accompanied her on the trip.

Boxer, who chairs the Environment and Public Works committee, didn't go so far as to say that the two Republicans on the trip - Sens. Johnny Isakson of Georgia and Bob Corker of Tennessee - would now be supporting one of the half dozen cap and trade bills that have been introduced in the Senate. In a telephone interview with Tennessee reporters, the Associated Press reports that Corker said he is "leaning" toward supporting a cap and trade system.

"In my opinion they will both play a very constructive role,'' Boxer said.

The 10 senators spent two days meeting with environmental officials from Greenland and Denmark and they viewed melting glaciers and huge icebergs from the air by helicopter and up close during a boat tour of Disco Bay.

"We have a unique opportunity to marry concerns about energy security and concerns about carbon dioxide emissions into a policy that enhances our technological capability and gives our country a competitive advantage,'' Corker said in a statement. And a spokeswoman for Corker said in an e-mail that he "believes there is growing evidence that humans are contributing to increasing temperatures,'' but that there is still much to learn on the subject.

Isakson said in his statement that he wants to "address the carbon issues in the context of promoting all sources of renewal energy.'' A spokeswoman for the Georgia senator said in an e-mail that he believes "it is premature to start talking about any carbon cap proposal since we have not fully addressed the development of all renewable resources, especially nuclear and cellulose-based ethanol."

Boxer, who has made action on global warming her first priority as chair of the environment committee, said that after this excursion "I know I have a responsibility to move now to lessen the impacts of severe global warming.''

Critics of Boxer's position challenge the finding that human activity has caused the planet's temperature to rise, saying instead it is a natural evolution of the planet.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, is briefed by Richard Alley of Penn State University, during a boat trip on July 29th on Disko Bay, near Illulisat Greenland. PETER RAFLE, Environment and Public Works Committee
The retreat of a melting glacier is shown in this shot of the Kangia Ice Fjord in Greenland. The ligher areas above the glacier were covered with ice until recently. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., took a delegation to Greenland to observe the effects of climate change. PETER RAFLE/ Senate Enviornment and Public Works Committee
Greenland's enviornmental minister told Sen. Barbara Boxer and her delegation that Disko Bay, seen here with Illulisat Harbor, was typically frozen from December to May when he was a child. Now it freezes for a few weeks in March. PETER RAFLE, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
An iceberg in Discko Bay near Illulisat, Greenland. PETER RAGLE, Environment and Public Works Committee

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